Models help set ecosystem service baselines for restoration assessment.

Coastal suburban watersheds are under heavy pressure from human activity. This pressure has yielded an extensive effort to protect, mitigate, and restore watershed ecosystem services. Assessment of restoration investments would be greatly improved by a standard approach for estimating change in ecosystem service production combined with a well-defined baseline for assessment of restoration effects. Here we take a model-based approach to both objectives by applying two established ecosystem service models in a representative coastal watershed. This watershed has undergone extensive suburbanization resulting in a loss of ecosystem services, which has resulted in heavy restoration investments. We used models to estimate loss of the ecosystem services; clean air, clean water, stable climate, and water storage resulting from suburbanization. We then applied these model-based estimates as a baseline for assessment of restoration focusing on the appropriate restoration scale and considering downstream watershed impacts. The results suggest that losses of ecosystem services, such as flood water storage, from suburbanization have been extensive since 2001, but a comparison of restoration value suggests that restoration has been effective in recouping ecosystem services in some but not all local regions suggesting there are trade-offs to be made in these efforts. These benefits were most evident for the services of clean water and water storage. Models can inform decisions by clarifying what has been lost and estimating what can be regained through restoration action. The former sets a baseline for the latter and allows for a functional equivalency approach to assessment.

In situ differences in nitrogen cycling related to presence of submerged aquatic vegetation in a Gulf of Mexico estuary.

Estuaries provide a suite of ecosystem services to people but are also under heavy stress from human development including excess nutrient loading and alterations in benthic habitat that affect nutrient cycling. Here we examine the interaction of two important and common ecosystem management priorities in estuaries: limiting eutrophication and restoration of submerged aquatic vegetation (SAV). Rates of benthic nitrogen processing can vary by habitat type and there is need for more complete data on the contribution of SAV to overall nitrogen cycling in estuaries, as well as a need to examine nitrogen cycling in situ to better characterize the role of SAV areal coverage in mediating estuarine eutrophication. We compare nitrogen cycling between two common and adjacent habitat types (SAV and adjacent bare sediment [BS]) in an index coastal estuary using an in situ chamber-based approach to better capture realized habitat differences. We also examined genomic community structure of sediment bacteria and archaea to identify biological indicators of nitrogen exchange. Both mean sediment-water exchange of dissolved N2 and microbial functional community structure differed between SAV and BS. Habitat differences were more consistent with lower variability at locations with low salinity and when sediment organic content was highest, which aligns with findings in other studies. Habitat types differed significantly in microbial composition, including functional groups and genes, like nifH, that may contribute to observed differences in nitrogen cycling. Overall, habitat type appeared most important to nitrogen cycling near the river mouth where sediment nitrogen was higher, and this information has implications for integrated management of habitat restoration/conservation and nutrient loading.

Managing estuaries for ecosystem function.

Estuary management is limited by lack of consensus on operational tools for handling multiple conflicting management objectives. One critical step to this goal is a shift from individual problems to a focus on maintaining ecosystem functions that benefit humans. If function is maintained, then the ecosystem is said to be functionally equivalent to its unimpacted state, which is sufficient for management. We propose an adaptation of a functional equivalency (FE) assessment approach from marine fishery management and use a case study demonstration to address how this approach can be integrated into existing ecosystem assessment tools. The functional equivalency framework has three components for implementation: definition of target ecosystem functions, measurable metrics of ecosystem functions, and policy-based thresholds for each metric that indicate when functional equivalency is lost and must be restored. Each case study is an application of available data, models, and management policy to define these ecosystem function components. We intend to foster discussion and future work on integrating the FE approach into existing ecosystem assessment tools. Data requirements are high, as is the necessary integration between science and policy. The results can be a more integrated management approach focused on maintenance of ecosystem functions most beneficial to humans.

A Keyword Approach to Finding Common Ground in Community-Based Definitions of Human Well-Being.

Ecosystem-based management involves the integration of ecosystem services and their human beneficiaries into decision making. This can occur at multiple scales; addressing global issues such as climate change down to local problems such as flood protection and maintaining water quality. At the local scale it can be challenging to achieve a consistent and sustainable outcome across multiple communities, particularly when they differ in resource availability and management priorities. A key requirement for consistent decision support at the community level is to identify common community objectives, as these can form the basis for readily transferable indices of ecosystem benefit and human well-being. We used a keyword-based approach to look for common terminology in community fundamental objectives as a basis for transferable indices of human well-being and then compared those commonalities to community demographics, location, and type. Analysis centered on strategic planning documents readily available from coastal communities in the conterminous United States. We examined strategic planning documents based on eight domains of human well-being, and found that Living Standards and Safety and Security were the most commonly addressed domains, and Health and Cultural Fulfillment were the least. In comparing communities, regional differences were observed in only one well-being domain, Safety and Security, while community type yielded significant differences in five of the eight domains examined. Community type differences followed an urban to rural trend with urban communities focusing on Education and Living Standards, and more rural communities focused on Social Cohesion and Leisure Time. Across all eight domains multivariate analysis suggested communities were distributed along two largely orthogonal gradients; one between Living Standards and Leisure Time and or Connection to Nature, and a second between Safety and Security and Social Priorities (Education/Health/Culture/Social Cohesion). Overall these findings demonstrate the use of automated keyword analysis for obtaining information from community strategic planning documents. Moreover, the results indicate measures and perceptions of well-being at the local scale differ by community type. This information could be used in management of ecosystem services and development of indices of community sustainability that are applicable to multiple communities with similar demographics, regional location, and type.